We talk a lot with our clients and friends about e-commerce and one question that comes up a lot is “What do you think of Shopify?” Well, we like it. It’s a tool we have used with a number of our own clients for their online shops.
What Is Shopify?
Shopify is a full-service, proprietary platform, that gives you an online store in just a few steps. It’s a plug and play option, with a number of features including:
- Brand customization options, so your store can be uniquely yours
- Integrations from their app store, to add additional features
- A Point of Sale (POS) system that lets you accept a wide range of payments
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Who is Shopify Good For?
When we are discussing online store options with others, we generally recommend Shopify to two types of people:
Those already doing offline business.
If you already have a brick and mortar store or are making sales offline, Shopify could be a good choice. You are already used to sales flow and point of sales systems, such as Square. If you are busy with sales, you will find the onboarding process quick and easy. The subscription cost includes help support if you have questions along the way.
Those tired of dealing with other online store options.
If you’ve been struggling with a customized shop, you may want to choose Shopify to alleviate whatever is holding you back. For those who just want to get a shop off the ground, without a lot of hassle, a Shopify site could be ideal.
Reasons Not to Use Shopify
As much as we have liked working with Shopify, there are some negatives you should be aware of. You are locking yourself into Shopify. To maintain a Shopify website, you have a subscription to pay every month or year. You will have to keep up with those payments, as well as credit card fees to keep up your website. If you change your mind, and want to go with another platform or design your own customized website, you will not be able to transfer the content and what you created. You will have to start from scratch.
So Should You Use Shopify?
It’s free to try. And it’s easy to get started. So if you think it might be the right fit for you, we definitely recommend checking it out. As developers, we appreciate Shopify’s language and theming options – that gives us the chance to personalize websites for our clients. If you want to learn more about setting up a Shopify site, and making it reflect your unique brand, contact us anytime. We would love to learn more about your sales goals.